Indicator for bottles.



Patented Apr. 24, |900.

' w. V, BAUMAN.

INDICATOR FOB BOTTLES.-

(Appncat nmed mya 139s) (No Model.)

y MYI/'arri 'Il Baf-uwlan UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM V. BAUMAN, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO ISAAC ROSENFIELD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

INDICATOR FOR B-OTTLES.

` SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 648,063, dated April 24, 1900.

I Application tiled May 9, 1898. Serial No, 680,090. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM V. BAUMAN, of the city of Minneapolis, county of I-Iennepin, State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Indicators for Bottles, of which the following is a speciiication.

My invention relates to bottles for liquors, medicines, Wines, doc., from which small parts of the contents are taken at a time; and the object of the invention is to provide means whereby the relling of a bottle in whole or in part may be detected. Heretofore druggists and liquor-dealers, particularly the latter, have habitually bought standard bottled goods and after using the contents have refilled the bottle with spurious liquor and have continued to sell such liquor from the same bottle as long as the label of the bottle remained unsoiled, thus defrauding the public;

The particular object of this invention is to provide a bottle having a series of small seals or marks upon it, which as the contents of the bottle are taken out portion by portion are destroyed by the customer or purchaser to show to the next customer that the liquor' has been exhausted down to a certain level in the bottle, so that the refilling of the bottle to any extent would be instantly detected by the next purchaser. Such a bottle vafter all of its seals have been broken` cannot be used again, as the first person to use the same would know instantly that the original contents of the bottle had been removed and had been checked off by the various purchasers.

The invention consists' generally in the combination, with the bottle, of a series of breakable, destructible7 or removable seals or marks upon the exterior thereof, to `be destroyedby the persons buying the contents in small quantities. b

The invention will be more readily understood by reference tothe accompanying drawings, forming part of this specificatiom'and in Which- Figure l shows a bottle embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the side of the bottle, showing the seal unbroken. Fig. 3 is a similarview showing the broken seal.

'As shownv in the drawings, the bottle is preferably provided with a vertical groove 2 in its exterior surface, and the bottom of this groove is preferably provided with shallow depressions or recesses 3. In the groove is a strip 4, preferably of paper, and which being stretched across the indentations in the side of the bottle may be easilybroken by pressing upon it. In addition to the strip 4 I may also employ a light crystal 5, set into the recess and easily broken by pressure. The paper strip 4 may be easily dispensed With, if desired, and small crystals of any suitable material may be placed in the depressions, to be removed therefrom by the finger-nail. Generally speaking, the seals may loe-of any form or material and applied in any desired manner to the bottle, as long as they are upon the exterior thereof and are adapted to be broken, used, or removed by the purchaser of the contents of the bottle. The portions taken from liquor`bottles by differ*- ent purchasers at a bar are about equal, and the ordinary quantity taken by a customer is calculated, and the bottle is provided With as many seals or marks as it contains drinks or portions. When a bottle is first opened, the seals are intact,- Whatever their nature may be. The first customer upon pouring his drink from the bottle will scratch off or break the iirst seal near the neck of the bottle. lYhen the second portion is taken from the bottle, the second seal will be destroyed, and so on, and it is evident that if any person upon looking at the bottle finds that the level of the liquor therein is above a broken or destroyed seal or mark on the bot tle he will be justified in declaring that the contents ofthe bottle are spurious or have been tampered with by the addition of a quantity of liquid not originally contained therein. The result will be that the refilling of bottles will be prevented, and that it will be Aimpossible for b'arkeepers and 'other persons handling liquors and medicines to use the bottle more than once. This is accomplished by means so simple and so cheap that any bottling establishment may use the invention Without materially addingto the cost of their goods and with the positive assurance that their goods will not be imitated or their bot- IOO tles used for the purpose of selling imitations and fraudulent or spurious articles.

It is evident that my invention may be properly and profitably used upon bottles for powders, pills, chemicals, and drugs of various kinds, a full bottle of which is not sold at a time.

I do not confine my invention to the specific construction herein shown and described.

Having thus described -iny invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. As a new article of manufacture, a bottle or package through Whose Walls its contents are visible and provided in its exterior surface with a roW of depressions and corresponding destructible gage-marks or seals.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a bottle or package provided in its exterior surface with a rou7 of depressions, and a series of frangible crystals or seals adapted to cover said depressions, substantially as described.

3. A bottle or package, provided With a substantiallyvertical row of depressions arranged at intervals in its exterior surface, and a series of frangible crystals or seals adapted to cover said depressions and flush with said exterior surface, substantially' as described.

4. A bottle providedwith a groove in its exterior surface, a series of depressions provided at intervals in said groove, and destructible seals or gage-marks provided in said depressions, substantially as described.

5. A bottle provided with a series of depressions in its outer surface, and a strip laid over the same and adapted to be checked or broken over said depressions, as and for the purpose specified.

6. A bottle provided with the vertical groove in its side having a series of depressions therein, the crystals provided in said depressions, and the covering or strap 4 thereon, substantially as described.

7. As a new article of manufacture, a bottle or package having on its exterior surface a row of depressions covered by destructible gage-marks or seals Whose outer surfaces are substantially flush with the surface of said bottle or package, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto Set my hand this 5th day of May, 1898, at Minneapolis, Minnesota.

WILLIAM V. BAUMAN.-

In presence of- C. G. HAWLEY, RICHARD PAUL. 

